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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24877906">The Beach House</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Devon_Rambles/pseuds/Devon_Rambles'>Devon_Rambles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate History, Implied/Referenced Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:40:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,371</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24877906</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Devon_Rambles/pseuds/Devon_Rambles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Fire Lord Sozin attempts to find the next avatar the easy way. Launching a genocide is Plan B.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Beach House</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The last thing Jahara wanted to do was dismount, let alone unpack. Home was countless leagues away where she left it. </p><p>The woman in red - Mitra, she knew now - coaxed her down and onto the shore. The firebender waved to Jahara's escort; she felt a piece of her heart dissolve as they made their retreat. Sky bison hailing from the west land on the desolate side of the island, Mitra explained. Their destination rested at the top of the hill and overlooked the more picturesque face of the sea. </p><p>Jahara admired the myriad colors and flora adorning her place of refuge despite herself. She couldn't recall ever standing in a more beautiful place, and she doubted her companion's words. </p><p>The woman found herself walking. Sand soon gave way to grass that massaged her bare feet. Fire lilies grew in bursts on the hillside before her and ringed the sanitorium, whose tall, open arches reminded the nun of the four temples. </p><p>They stepped through the largest arch. Jahara was greeted by the sounds of her native tongue, the clicking sound of Pai Sho tiles on boards, a rustling of robes and the feeling of a breeze on a windless day. Mitra escorted her to a spacious room. Good. Jahara was far from the first Airbender to arrive, yet proactive enough to ensure herself a private bedchamber. </p><p>Six months into her stay, however, and she still hadn't unpacked.</p><p>Jahara was one of the lucky ones. Able to walk throughout her stay, she and Mitra took to strolling through the fire lily gardens enshrining the nuns' residence. The ocean was always a brilliant teal. From the top of the hill Jahara and her attendant could see the beach enclosing the island borders, volcanoes dotting the horizon, and a tower rising from the building on the eastern shore. </p><p>"Tower? You mean, the chimney?" Mitra had chuckled when Jahara pointed out the structure, so unlike the Air Temple features. </p><p>Jahara's mind held the new word aloft, turning it this way and that. </p><p>"That's the beach house. Where the residents go after they give birth, or when they miscarry. The attendants there know how to help it get better." </p><p>"What's the...chimney for?"</p><p>"Our best benders make fires to keep them warm and give them a place to gather. It's very soothing. The chimney lets out smoke." Mitra winked. "Believe it or not, it does get cold in the Fire Nation."</p><p>Jahara thought of the women who had lost children and given birth so far. She supposed a separate environment would be beneficial, not just for those nuns, but the ones left behind who never knew what to say. Jahara decided to remember to be kinder to them when she saw them again in their real home, after she herself gave birth in a season's time and returned to the Western Air Temple.</p><p>Walking and meditating were the most common activities in the building, followed by games of Pai Sho. Gliding less so for safety reasons, but permitted. Corresponding with anyone was extremely rare, discouraged even, but every few weeks or so Jahara would think of Ezo and do it anyway. </p><p>Mitra had seemed wary the first time Jahara asked for pens, paper, and permission to borrow a hawk, but had eventually acquiesced when she saw her charge's persistence. Soon the letters were arriving and leaving as quickly as the changes to the nun's appearance, until she could hardly recognize them anymore. </p><p>The air nomad at last insisted her cousin come stay with her when Ezo sent word of the eighth death. Premature birth, blood loss, nothing the master nuns or monks could do. No good news in the message at all, unlike her previous ones. Jahara thought of the mothers and newborns in the beach house, sent Ezo her final letter, and unpacked. </p><p>The other nun arrived a fortnight later, ashen, smaller than women in their later months should be, to a tidy room, her own Fire Nation attendant, adequate medical care, and the welcoming presence of other expecting airbenders. </p><p>Jahara and Ezo had little time together before the latter's black moods got out of hand. Everyone was familiar with mood swings and armed with herbal remedies, walks to and from the beach, Pai Sho, meditation, and other antidotes. Ezo was having none of them and attempting to bargain with her attendant, who looked genuinely puzzled.</p><p>"Dwelling on sadness isn't good for your unborn baby, Miss Ezo."</p><p>Ezo laughed without mirth. "I don't want a quick fix today. I want a sympathetic ear. Why is that too much to ask?" She looked wildly about the other nuns, who averted their gaze. </p><p>Jahara envied the more enlightened among them, who had meditated past the point of being able to hear her cousin. She studied her Pai Sho game until she thought she could feel Ezo's eyes rest on her. </p><p>That sunset was a quiet one without her roommate's snores. Mitra explained to Jahara that Ezo had been brought to the residence on the shore a few hours after her unseemly outburst, to be with the doctors who had more experience with treating depression, and to keep the other women safe. </p><p>"Next time let the attendants vet out who stays in our sanatorium before inviting them, alright?" </p><p>Jahara asked for an extra helping of fire lily sleeping draught.</p><p>It was the middle of the night when the air nomad awoke next. She couldn't decide if the fetus or the ground had started shaking first. </p><p>From the darkness Mitra and several attendants Jahara didn't recognize appeared. "It's Avatar Roku. His island is erupting," one of them said. </p><p>Mitra blanched. "We shouldn't be able to feel it." </p><p>All Jahara could feel by then was pain. Mitra caught her eyes and called for help. The nun gave birth as the avatar took his last breath. Jahara exhaled and her son cried out.</p><p>Ordinary births were terribly exciting affairs, and the two that night, even more so. A hawk arrived from the capital indicating the avatar had died in the eruption. As such, Fire Sages arrived by midday next to inspect the infants before the attendants were allowed to bring the new mothers and sons to the beach house. </p><p>Jahara was unfortunate enough to be the second nun interrogated. The eldest sage, already in a foul mood, held the newborn at arm's length and pronounced him perfectly ordinary. Both man's and boy's face was a rictus of displeasure. Jahara reclaimed her son with haste, and he calmed at her touch. </p><p>"With all due respect, great sage, is it not enough that we're both healthy?" </p><p>He gave no reply. Mitra offered Jahara her arm and pulled her to her feet.  </p><p>Refugee and attendant left the building as they had countless times over the last nine months. It was an unusually cold afternoon. Fire lilies craned their faces towards the sliver of sun poking out from behind a cloud. Butterbees landed on the petals and circled the trio as a gentle breeze tickled the women's hair. The boy slept in his mother's arms.</p><p>They were at the eastern shore now. Jahara could see a curl of smoke rise from the chimney and smell the hearth fire blazing inside the windowless beachside residence. </p><p>"I'm glad I get to see Ezo again." </p><p>Mitra gave no reply. </p><p>A bird trilled from somewhere up the hill. The firebender paused before knocking on the door and turned to face the expatriate. "I'm sorry your boy's not, you know, the avatar."   </p><p>The wind stirred and grass tickled Jahara's ankles. She stared at her friend. "Why should he be? I love him anyway."</p><p>The door opened. Mitra nudged the airbenders in. The plume of smoke grew thicker and darker and she made her way back up the hill. </p><p>Mitra arrived late to work the next morning and noticed all of the nuns were gone, even though none of them had given birth yet. She asked a senior attendant if they had asked to return home. "They were moved to the beach house on the Fire Lord's orders," she replied. "So we can make everything better."</p><p>The firebender looked out to sea as the chimney belched out its last pillar of smoke.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We learn the Fire Nation is the most industrialized, and possibly has the best prenatal care for that reason. In the final years of his reign, Sozin invites airbender woman to spend their pregnancies in the Fire Nation in the hopes that one of them would give birth to the next avatar and the Fire Lord could raise them himself. Children can be easier to influence than even friends. </p><p>Luckily for Aang, unluckily for the Air Nomads, Sozin's Plan A fails.</p><p>butterbee: butterfly + bee. Because why not?</p></blockquote></div></div>
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